Tornadoes get taken down by Bulldogs, 56-0

Football: Hoover's offense stalls out in shutout Pacific League loss on the road

Pule is knocked out in first half.

October 15, 2010|By Gabriel Rizk, gabriel.rizk@latimes.com

BURBANK — Despite being without an integral part of its offense on Thursday night, the Burbank High football team still showed why it's a strong contender to repeat as Pacific League champion.

And, when Hoover lost an even bigger catalyst of its own offense before halftime of a league game at Burroughs High's Memorial Field, so also went any chance of the Tornadoes getting back in the game.

Bulldogs quarterback Adam Colman passed for 203 yards and accounted for four total touchdowns in the absence of standout running back Ulisies Ochoa, who was injured in practice earlier in the week, as Burbank posted a 56-0 victory over a reeling Hoover squad that could never find an offensive rhythm.

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"Without [Ochoa] that takes a lot away from our run game, that's our go-to guy, he's our workhorse," said Colman, whose efforts were bolstered by a 200-yard, two-touchdown rushing performance by Quortney Brazier. "We knew we could throw the ball, we've always been able to throw the ball and we just wanted to show that tonight and work on the game a little bit."

Hoover (1-6, 0-3 in league) lost starting quarterback AJ Pule late in the second quarter when he complained to Coach Chris Long of dizziness. Long said Pule later admitted to him that he thought he had been shaken up on a hit on the Tornadoes' first offensive series, but tried to remain in the game.

"When AJ came out of the game, that was pretty much all she wrote," Long said. "We didn't have success throwing the ball at first anyway, but with him out of the game, we couldn't really do anything and we couldn't really call any plays. It [narrowed] our offense down to a couple plays."

Burbank's swarming, blitzing defense gave Pule and the Tornadoes' entire offense problems from the beginning, limiting Hoover to three-and-outs on its first four possessions.

Meanwhile, Burbank (5-1, 3-0), ranked third in the CIF Southeast Division, got off to good start, driving 80 yards in just three plays to open the game with a 72-yard Brazier run followed by a four-yard scoring pass from Colman to Brazier.

The Bulldogs went up, 14-0, on a 63-yard drive finished off by a three-yard Brazier run at the 7:09 mark of the first quarter.

Burbank, which scored 56 points in the first half of its 56-8 win over Glendale last week, couldn't keep up its torrid offensive pace, though, as its next two drives stalled and ended with a punt and a missed 40-yard field goal attempt.